Brief Description of Plot:
Jurgis decides to go to night school to improve his English and also attends union meetings. A man at the slaughter house urges him to register to vote so Jurgis becomes a US citizen and votes for who the man told him to. He later finds out that he has been exploited and that when the votes get really close, the poor man’s vote comes into play. Jurgis gets two dollars for voting also. Jurgis also learns the corruption of Packingtown and about the politician Mike Scully who has become a big shot through dishonesty and corruption. Jurgis also learns of the physical and mental illnesses that some workers got from working in Packingtown and how the meat company sells meat called “deviled ham” and “potted ham” which is actually diseased meat. Characters in Chapter
Jurgis
Mike Scully
Ona Notable Passages:
"Now and then the election was very close, and that was the time the poor man came in...and maybe he could make it uncomfortable for any tradesman who did not stant in with Scully!" (92-94)
"There was another interesting set of statistics that a person might gather in Packingtown...generally he had only to hold out his hand" (97).
"It seemed that they must have agencies all over the country, to hunt out old and crippled and diseased cattle to be canned...only the army beef, besides, was not fresh canned, it was the old stuff that had been lying for years in the cellar" (96).
Jurgis decides to go to night school to improve his English and also attends union meetings. A man at the slaughter house urges him to register to vote so Jurgis becomes a US citizen and votes for who the man told him to. He later finds out that he has been exploited and that when the votes get really close, the poor man’s vote comes into play. Jurgis gets two dollars for voting also. Jurgis also learns the corruption of Packingtown and about the politician Mike Scully who has become a big shot through dishonesty and corruption. Jurgis also learns of the physical and mental illnesses that some workers got from working in Packingtown and how the meat company sells meat called “deviled ham” and “potted ham” which is actually diseased meat.
Characters in Chapter
Jurgis
Mike Scully
Ona
Notable Passages:
"Now and then the election was very close, and that was the time the poor man came in...and maybe he could make it uncomfortable for any tradesman who did not stant in with Scully!" (92-94)
"There was another interesting set of statistics that a person might gather in Packingtown...generally he had only to hold out his hand" (97).
"It seemed that they must have agencies all over the country, to hunt out old and crippled and diseased cattle to be canned...only the army beef, besides, was not fresh canned, it was the old stuff that had been lying for years in the cellar" (96).